I watched the keynote and saw the graphs, the battery life, the instant wake. And they got me. I started to think, how could one of these new M1-powered MacBooks make their way into my life?

Of course, I didn’t need one but I kept wondering what story could I tell myself to justify purchasing another computer? Then I had it. My 16-inch MacBook Pro is too heavy to carry around all the time. Yeah, that’ll do. This 2.0 kg aluminium powerhouse is too much to be galavanting.

Wait… 2.0 kg, as in, 4.4 pounds?

That’s it?

Yes.

Wow. It’s not even that heavy.

C’mon now… let’s not let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I had it. My reason for placing an order on a shiny new M1 MacBook (or two). My 16-inch MacBook is too heavy to lug around to cafes and write code, words, edit videos and check emails sporadically.

And Apple seems to think their new M1 chip is 11x, 15x, 12x, 3x faster on a bunch of different things. Thought-provoking numbers but I’ve never measured any of these in the past.

All I care about is: can I do what I need to do, fast.

The last word of the previous sentence is the most important. I’ve become conditioned. Speed is a part of me now. Ever since the transition from hard drives to solid-state drives. And I’m not going back.

I bought the 16-inch in February 2020. I’d just completed a large project and was flush with cash, so I decided to future proof my work station. Since I edit videos daily and hate lag, I opted for the biggest dawg I could buy and basically maxed everything except for the storage (see the specs below).

Thankfully I’ve still got a friend at Apple who was able to apply their employee discount to the beast (shout out to Joey).

Anyway, we’ve discussed my primary criteria: speed. Let’s consider the others:

1. Speed. If it’s not fast, get lost.
2. Cost. A big factor but I didn’t mind paying for the higher spec machine nor do I mind paying for a quality computer. It’s my primary tool. I use it to make art, I use it to make money, I use it to learn, I use it to communicate to the world.
3. Portability. I don’t like sitting in an office all day. Can I take this thing to a cafe or library for a few hours without searching for a power outlet? Consider portability a combination of battery life and weight.

Why test/compare them

Why not?

But really, I’m a nerd. And an Apple fan. Plus, I wanted to see how my big-dawg-almost-top-of-the-line 16-inch MacBook Pro faired against the new M1 chip-powered MacBook’s.

Plus, I can’t remember being this excited for a new computing device since the original iPhone.

Other reasons include: carrying around a lighter laptop and tax benefits (if I buy another machine before the end of the year, I can claim it on tax).

Mac specs

Whenever I buy a new machine, I usually upgrade the RAM and the storage at least a step or two from baseline.

512GB storage and 16GB RAM seems to be the minimum for me these days (seriously, who is running a 128GB MacBook effectively?).

So for the M1 MacBook’s, I upgraded both of their RAM from 8GB to 16GB and for the 13-inch Pro, I upgraded from 256GB to 512GB storage.

The 16-inch MacBook is my current machine, which I’ve never had a problem with until running the tests below.